How to get credit for being extremely kind and willing to help yet exert little, if any, effort.

Let’s just say a BIG blogger posts a request on her blog for help. You happen to see it because you read her frequently to learn the true art of blogging. Although you rarely comment at her blog because really, does she even read past the 100th comment anyway?

So here’s what you do. You send her an email, perhaps something like this:

Hi [Big Blogger Lady],
I know how frustrating HTML and PHP can be. If you’re still having problems feel free to email me and if I can ever help you, I’d be more than happy to do so. Of course, you’ll have to come through on your end and prove to really be my best friend. I’ve always wanted a friend. I’ll make us each a beautiful graphic for our sidebars with BFF across the front and then add a coffee cup and some flowers and maybe some hearts, pink and purple hearts, oh, oh I have an idea… we can get matching t-shirts and take pictures of ourselves doing something crazy together like, like… sticking drinking straws up our noses and laughing hysterically. I’ve heard that’s what friends do with each other. Ooooo, I hope you’re as excited as I am!!!

What do you mean you don’t need my help?

Lauren
http://webexdesign.com/blog

Now it’s very important to add your link to the bottom because otherwise Big Blogger Lady will have no idea who you are and well, we can’t have that.

With in a few hours, Big Blogger Lady, frightened by the thought that she is now in contact with a potential stalker, will respond like this:

Bwahahahaha.

Uh, yeah. I think I can live without a BFF graphic.

You are funny,

[big blogger lady]

Please note: there is no request for help.

Yeah, I didn’t think so.

Okay, quick tip for new or semi-new bloggers.

Claim your blog in Technorati. It’s really quite easy and it helps everyone you link to or write about. It also gets your blog noticed by others who use Technorati to search for blog posts about specific subjects. Technorati currently tracks, oh I don’t know, maybe 4 bazillion blogs. It’s a great place to find new bloggers who write about things that you’re interested in.

Did I hear someone crying? It must be that woman over there in the fetal position shaking her head uncontrollably. She obviously has herself convinced that she couldn’t possibly do this without some directions. Okay calm down, Sweetie. Just look below:

1. Go to Technorati.com
2. In the upper, right side of the page you’ll see the word JOIN, click it.
3. Fill out the form and follow the remainder of the prompts.
4. Once you are a member search for your blog in the search bar to ensure no one else has already claimed it. I never heard of it happening but it’s a mad, mad world. You just never know.
5. Now go to the HOME page and scroll down to the bottom of the page in the left hand corner in green type you’ll see the link to Claim Your Blog. Click it and again follow the prompts.

It’s an easy process and you’ll feel all grown up when you’re done. I almost promise.

If you’re so proud of yourself that you’re bursting buttons maybe you should take on adding your blog to The Truth Laid Bear. It’s another site that helps people find you. Go ahead I know you can do it.

I’ve felt so bad lately about the fact that Some Gave All was started with such great intentions and then simply fell by the way side. Those soldiers committed themselves unto death for our freedom and I wasn’t able to commit my time, and yes I admit it, a little heartache too.For me it is a difficult blog to be involved in because of the constant reminder of death. But you know? I’ve been looking at it all wrong. I should be encouraged by the willingness of these brave men and women to lay down their lives for our freedom, the freedom of strangers. I should be encouraged, proud and grateful, as should you.

We’re looking for all the help we can get in order to bring Some Gave All back. Whether or not you’ve written a tribute to a fallen soldier in the past, would you please consider choosing a soldier’s name and writing tribute. Sadly, there are still thousands of names from which to choose.We are also looking for additional administrators. These volunteers will help by checking the email account and updating the links to the tributes on the list of names. So, if you think you may have some spare minutes in your day, let me know. I’d be grateful for any help you can give.

That’s what Akismet is doing daily, eating lots of comment spam!

I just want to take the time to publicly thank Ben (who, I have been informed, has a wife) from OpenSwitch for advicing me to give this plugin for Wordpress a try. It was such a pain to open Thunderbird each morning only to find that a mere 2 of the 71 comments on my site were not junk/spam/garbage.

I’m telling you, Akismet frees up so much of my time I’m seriously considering [insert earth-shattering idea here that would take up an extreme amount of my time, because I really can't come up with anything other than "learn how to write" and we all know that is not going to happen] and if I do, the world ultimately has Ben, my new hero, to thank.

So here’s the thing. I’ve noticed that various bloggers as of late have decided to take a break from blogging. Some have hinted that they may not even come back from their break.

As I read many of these posts, my heart sinks a little. I start thinking that maybe I should have commented more or told them how much I appreciate their writing ability. Day after day I’ve been reading their posts, enjoying their photos and feeling like I am really getting to know them and then all of the sudden BAM, they’re slamming their door in my face. I know they don’t see it that way because, well, they didn’t even know I was on their porch, peaking into their lives.

Then after my initial sadness I do what any woman who NEEDS blogging, which includes other bloggers too obviously, would do – I give myself a little pep talk. You may have heard it in your own head, it goes something like this:

“Oh, don’t worry, she’ll be back. She has to come back, that girl is fully and completely addicted to blogging just like the rest of us. So she’ll be back real soon. She just needs a little break; we all need a break now and then. When blogging becomes a chore then a break is warranted. But she’ll be back, count on it.”

And just when I get myself all calmed down, I decide to go on with life so I check my feedreader for new posts to read. Lo and behold the only new posts are from the bloggers that are on a break. Which obviously proves the addiction I mentioned but could it possibly prove something else?

When the pressure to write is gone, does the joy come back? Do the words begin to flow again? Do some of us bloggers maybe put unnecessary demands on ourselves? To be funny? To be smart? Interesting? Things that most of us probably are a whole lot more of when we’re not trying to be?

Well, that’s my theory anyway.

And because I’m kinda struggling with posting and I can’t really think of anything of interest to blog about lately, I have an idea. I’ve decided that I’m going to take a break for like a year. No two. Or maybe this will be my last post forever. Yeah, that’s it, forever. I’m done for good.

Good-bye.

Okay then, see you tomorrow.

Recently when Bloglines was having problems with my feed, I asked a few questions about which feed readers people use. I was actually kind of surprised at how many didn’t use them or weren’t familiar with them. I decided then that I would write on feed readers also called aggregators or timesavers. You can choose.

Let’s start at the beginning. First of all, the best part about blogging software is that it alleviates the need to continuely check for updates to a specific blog because of RSS. The syndication of the sites via the feeds allows us to be notified when something has been updated. This is where a feedreader comes in, it gets notified when a blog has been updated with a new post. If you subscribe to the comments in a particular post you can also be notified when a new comment comes in on that post, regardless of whether the site is yours or not.

For some of you, this information is so basic that you can’t even imagine why I would attempt to make a post out of it. Bear with me, maybe we can all help each other here.

There are many different feed readers and some of you may already be using one and didn’t even realize it. Your “My Yahoo” page is a feedreader. It currently is updated with news but you can add your favorite blogs to the content and you’ll be notified, each time you open it, as to which of the blogs you read has been updated. Here is a list of a few of the web-based feedreaders I am aware of, currently available today:

My Yahoo
My MSN
Google’s Reader
Bloglines
Newgator
Pluck
24 Eyes
Rojo

There are also feedreaders within other software applications. One of these applications is Thunderbird, the free email client from Mozilla. Another is [drumroll please] Firefox. Firefox is THE bloggers browser, in my humble opinion, and is also available in a free download. I actually read about FireFox somewhere else before I started blogging. Because I am easily persuaded in matters of ease and comfort, I became a Firefox addict long before I became a blogger. The main reason it is preferrable is the easy customization. There are many extensions available to make blogging easier and new extensions are always being added.

Here are a few of my favorite Mozilla/FireFox/ThunderBird things:
Firefox
Thunderbird
Sage
Live Bookmarks
SpellBound This extension currently needs to be updated to be compatible with the 1.5.0.1 browser version, give this one a little time.
Signature
Dictionary Search

Someone once mentioned to me that they didn’t like feedreaders because they enjoy seeing the beautiful design of the blogs as they read. I’ve saved the best extension for last to solve my good friend’s problem.

Wizz RSS News Reader.

This feed reader extension information came to me courtesy of Carol of She Lives. As you can see by the screen shot, it allows you to read directly from each blog.

In conclusion, if you are trying to keep up with a high number of blogs, a feed reader is definitely the way to go.

If you want even more information regarding feedreaders, this website should meet your needs.

If you currently use a feedreader not mentioned here and are happy with it, feel free to leave the information in the comments. I am sure that there are many more extensions that I am not even aware for Firefox. If there are some that you feel you just couldn’t live without, leave the info with a link in the comments. Hopefully, this post and the ensuing comments will help make everyone’s blogging life a little easier.

I read somewhere before I ever began to blog that the best browser for bloggers was FireFox. The reason being that there are so many extensions available to customize it that it makes blogging easier.

Well, only because I am easily persuaded in matters of ease and comfort, I believed. First became a Firefox addict and then a blogger.

Now all this is to say, these are a few of my favorite things:

• 1. Firefox
  2. Live Bookmarks
  3. SpellBound
  4. Signature
  5. Dictionary Search

Hope this helps someone new to blogging!